A Staffordshire man has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for pretending to be Gas Safe registered, putting tenants at risk from dangerous gas work and for breaching a legal notice which prohibited him from carrying out gas work.

Mark Austin, of Newcastle-under-Lyme, who trades as APS, was prosecuted after issuing landlord's gas safety records with a Gas Safe Register identification number, despite never having been on the register.

Cannock Magistrates' Court heard that he carried out dangerous work at a house being prepared for tenancy in Stoke-on-Trent, where he installed a boiler and a gas hob on 30 July 2010. The gas pipework to these appliances was too small and as a result the gas hob burners went out when the boiler was activated and the unlit gas came back on when the boiler was turned off, which could have caused an explosion.

The owner of the property alerted the Gas Safe Register after Mr Austin failed to rectify the problems.

HSE's investigation into the incident also revealed that Mr Austin had illegally issued 23 gas safety records for another landlord, including one for a house in Newcastle-under-Lyme, on 18 January 2011.

Following an earlier Court hearing, HSE then learned of two further pieces of work, which included the installation of a boiler and the issuing of Landlord's Gas Safety Records, which were carried out after a notice prohibiting such work had been issued by HSE.

At earlier hearings, Mr Austin pleaded guilty to three breaches of Regulation 3(3), two of Regulation 3(7), one of Regulation 26(1) of the Gas Safety Installation and Use Regulations 1998, one breach of Section 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and one breach of Section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. He was given a 12 month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, 200 hours worth of unpaid community service and ordered to pay £1,000 costs.